BE PARENT WITHOUT PARTNER

HAVING A CHILD WITHOUT A PARTNER

Single parent families make up 25-30% of all households globally and consist of women who raise their children on their own, either by choice or out of necessity. Social questions are often raised whether such family pattern should be considered normal, let alone when a woman chooses to satisfy her own desire to have a child and create a family based on a single parent, namely herself. According to the latest surveys, the United States have the highest percentage of single parent families reaching 34%, Canada 22%, Australia 20% and Denmark 19%. In developed countries, where births outside marriage is increasingly growing (e.g. Sweden, the USA, Canada, the UK, France and exceptionally Japan with just 1%), legislation is very supportive to women who raise their children on their own, providing financial benefits and special facilities to study and work.

Single parent by choice

In the late 20th century single parent families became much more numerous and society considered this family pattern an evolution of the term “family”, a modern, alternative type of family, rather than controversial. Either as a result of divorce/separation or birth outside marriage, the creation of a single parent family is increasingly becoming a common option for career women, female couples who become pregnant through sperm donation in assisted production methods (IUI or IVF), or recently even for men as a deliberate choice.

In some countries many men seek solutions like egg donation or surrogacy to have children (using a white marriage or cohabitation agreement with a female partner, in countries where such process is illegal), since “up until recently, adoption has been a solution for heterosexual couples to make their desire of having children and a family come true; yet it is a process not only complicated but also time consuming”, says Harun Sunda in his article on gayswithkids.com. Harun Sunda and his husband raise their two children resulting from egg donation and surrogacy. It is worth mentioning that according to a survey conducted in 2013, an estimated 16,000 same-sex couples are raising more than 22,000 adopted children in the United States.

Legislation in Greece

Greek legislation allows unmarried and single women to have a child by submitting only a notarial act. Current legislation does not provide anything for single men and same-sex couples.

Certificates to be submitted by a candidate mother who is unmarried and single:

Official document (certificate) of identity issued in the country of origin.

Declaration of submission to an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and/or artificial insemination (IUI).

Notarial act certifying the submission to IVF/IUI (in relation to the acknowledgment of the child resulting from such process).

Certificate of marital status, not older than three months.

Statutory Declaration (signature certified as original) verifying that she is not married.

Specific hematological and serological tests as prescribed by the law, carried out in the framework of an IVF treatment.

The candidate mother should submit all certificates as mentioned above, duly issued by a recognized official authority in the country of origin (Αpostille http://www.internationalapostille.com/what-is-an-apostille/), and translated into Greek. The translation of said documents may be carried out by our collaborators as part of the services provided by Μedimall ΙVF Clinic. Our legal advisor and associate notary public shall also undertake the processing of relevant documents at all stages of the procedure, before and after the notarial act.